About Sandra Borch
Sandra Konstance Nygård Borch (born 23 April 1988) is a Norwegian politician who served as the minister of research and higher education from 2023 to 2024 until her resignation over the extensive plagiarism in her master's thesis. As minister, she had launched a crackdown on students' reuse of their own texts, so-called "self-plagiarism," leading to criticism from many academics who argued that reuse of one's own work is not plagiarism or research misconduct. She previously served as minister of agriculture and food from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Centre Party, she served as the leader of the Centre Youth from 2011 to 2013, while simultaneously serving as a deputy MP from her home constituency of Troms from 2009 to 2013. She was elected a permanent representative in 2017. In January 2024, it was revealed that significant parts of her master's thesis are plagiarised. She announced her resignation in the evening of 19 January 2024. In March 2024, she lost her degree from the University of Tromsø. In January 2026, Borch was charged with two accounts of driving under the influence in October 2025, with BAC levels of 0,64‰ and 1,56‰ – the legal limit being 0,2‰ in Norway. In February 2026, Borch was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of 30 days, a fine of 100.000 NOK and lost her driving licence for three years. Borch negotiated her first agricultural settlement from late April until 16 May, when she and the Norwegian Agrarian Association reached an agreed settlement of 10.9 million kr. In one of her first cases as minister, Borch stopped the sale of the Løken farm in Volbu, Valdres. In May, Borch presented the state and the Norwegian Agrarian Association' agricultural settlement, with an offer of 4.1 billion kr. During autumn of 2021, farmers' organisations and the state had agreed on compensation to farmers at 754 million kr due to price increases on fertilizers and other goods.
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